An FIR has been lodged in Uttar Pradesh against propaganda website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for spreading hatred and hurting religious sentiments by calling Mahant Bajrang Muni ‘Udasin’, Yati Narsinghanand and Swami Anand Swarup “hatemongers” on Twitter.
On May 27, Islamist Zubair, while targeting journalist Navika Kumar of Times Now, had posted a tweet, “Why do we need Hate Mongers like Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati or Mahant Bajrang Muni or Anand Swaroop to arrange a Dharam Sansad to speak against a community and a Religion when we already have Anchors who can do a much better job from News Studios.”
The FIR was lodged on the complaint of one Bhagwan Sharan from the Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh. “This complaint is with regard to hurting our religious sentiments by using derogatory words against mahants of our dharam sthal, which is a symbol of our faith. On May 27, I saw on Twitter that Mohammad Zubair had used derogatory words like ‘hatemongers’ against Rashtriya Hindu Sher Sena national custodian Bajrang Muni. Zubair had also disrespected Hindu Yati Narsinghanand and Swami Anand Swarup,” the FIR read.
It further read, “He (Zubair) has intentionally tried to spread hatred in society and incite Muslims and hurt Hindu sentiments as part of a conspiracy. There is anger among us Hindus by such acts of his.”
In the same Twitter thread, Islamist Zubair had dog whistled fellow Islamists for unleashing rape, death and beheading threats on BJP National Spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
Tagging Delhi Police and Police Commissioner on Twitter on May 27, Sharma had posted, “I am getting continuous death and beheading threats against my family and myself which are egged on by Mohammed Zubair because of his attempts to incite communal passions and vitiate the atmosphere by building a fake narrative.”
Founder of the propaganda website Alt News, Pratika Sinha, defended the conduct of Islamist Zubair. “This is a clear case of selective targeting. The three concerned individuals have been called hatemongers by several media organisations. What does a ‘hatemonger’ mean? Somebody who repeatedly uses hate to promote division in society. That is what they have done and hence, they fit into the definition of hatemongers. The work that Alt News does against hate speech and misinformation bothers a lot of people and hence, Zubair is being targeted as he is a co-founder of Alt News,” The Indian Express quoted Sinha.
In June last year, one Abdul Samad Saifi was thrashed in Ghaziabad in a personal fight. Islamist Zubair circulated a muted video of the incident claiming Saifi was thrashed for not chanting Jai Shri Ram. The police investigation had revealed that Islamist Zubair did circulate the muted video of the incident with an ulterior motive.
Zubair was booked by the UP Police in the case.
Comments